AT a listener from France Inter testifying that at 62 he did not see himself ” go further “ so much was his body ” fatigue “the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, replied that “one of the strongest aspects, (…) it is the capacity that we have for each other to find meaning and pleasure in the work we do”. If the answer seems a little offbeat, there is nevertheless a link between health, on the one hand, and meaning at work, on the other. Recent research, funded by the Department of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares) of the Ministry of Labor, shows that when the meaning of work takes center stage, health is relegated to the background. , to the point that it deteriorates.
This research is based on a paradox: according to several public statistics surveys on health and working conditions, the health of employees in very small businesses (TPE) is better than in larger businesses, even though the risks professionals are more present there and that prevention is very weak. In 2018, VSEs represented 19% of employees in France.
In Health and work in VSEs. Coping with health, tinkering with risk (Erès, 160 pages, 20 euros), sociologists Fanny Darbus and Emilie Legrand first explain that the measurement of occupational health by public statistics is based on employee declarations and the number of sick leaves and accidents at work and occupational diseases declared to the administration. Health problems that do not give rise to the establishment of a stoppage or the recognition of an accident at work or an occupational disease, or that the employees remain silent, therefore go under the radar. However, during face-to-face interviews in thirty VSEs in the hairdressing, catering and construction sectors, these problems are “omnipresent but as if relegated to the background”.
pain endurance
It’s here “somatic culture” of these employees, which is the main explanation for the fact that VSEs are home to many statistically silent health problems. This culture is the set of norms that condition the way individuals perceive their body and what happens to it, and adapt to it. It is closely linked and adjusted to working conditions and the position of individuals on the labor market. In VSEs, this somatic culture encourages minimizing and supporting pain without stopping work.
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